The hounds in the pits.

Pierro finished calibrating his spyglass and admired it at arm's length. It was hardly a new invention, but it was his first attempt at building one himself. In experiment, he put it to his eye and aimed it out into the river from his balcony, impressed with the range and accuracy of –wait…

Activating his second level of zoom (a feature of his own design) He zeroed in on the boat, identifying the two figures there… He closed the spyglass with a snap and almost jogged to go and get Admiral Havelock.

._.

Gently and with an ease brought about by years of practice, Samuel steered the boat slowly towards the dock at the Hound Pits, the afternoon sun easily illuminating all the obstacles clogging the river. He turned to Emily, who was surveying the area with eyes tinted black. "Now listen, missy, uh, my lady, the people you're about to meet are expecting to assume control of things like your education and food, not that you have to accept their help, of course."

Emily nodded absentmindedly, her eyes seemingly fixated on the river's edge nearby. "And another thing, they also don't believe the high Overseer's messages about-"

Suddenly, Emily vanished in a blur, before reappearing on the boat, tucking some sort of rune in her pocket. "-about that."

She smiled, looking down at her apparently unblemished hand. "Don't worry, I can keep it secret."

Samuel coughed. "That wasn't really what I, uh, sure."

With that, he steered the boat into a perfect dock.

Emily looked, not so much in surprise but in curiosity, at the stocky man with a collection of scars who approached the boat. "Lady Kaldwin. Sam. I am Admiral Havelock. It is so good that you are safe, we worried what had happened to you in those back streets."

Emily suppressed a giggle, knowing that little on Bottle Street would dare to hurt her, and replied in her poshest voice, "Not every street rat is malicious, Admiral, but I'm glad to be somewhere… more comfy." She felt a hint of naughtiness enter her voice. "I haven't bathed in days!"

Havelock's laugh seemed forced compared to the light chuckles from Samuel behind her. "Well, I'm sure that the maids can tend to that. One in particular is quite anxious to meet you, but you really should prioritise getting to know some of my… let's call them conspirators."

Emily wasn't sure why she should wait to meet the maids; they would be looking after her, so she'd probably see them the most. She shrugged and followed Havelock up the stairs towards the entrance of the dingy looking pub, wondering what sorts of people he would have-

"Interesting!" Emily turned to see a small, bespectacled man approaching her from a side building that looked like a workshop.

Havelock smiled slightly. "Ah, Pierro! M'lady, this is Pierro Japlin, he is our technician and…Pierro?"
The inventor stared down at Emily piercingly. "How on earth did you get that?"

Emily blinked. Does he know what my tiara is? Is that new rune sticking out? "I, uh-"

Pierro's hand darted out towards her, she flinched away, but not before he grabbed her- huh?

Holding up Thomas' slingshot to the light, Pierro closely inspected it. "Serkonos Palewood… Interesting choice, malleable, but perhaps that would…and brilliantly carved, the contours are…"

Havelock coughed pointedly. "Pierro?"
The technician froze for a moment before turning back to her, his eyes still flicking to the slingshot. "Right, yes. Greetings, Empress, we are, uh, honoured to have you here. Of course. Uh, would you mind if I kept this? My resources are currently limited, but I'm sure I can make some basic improvements to the design. Of course, if it belongs to the empress, I'll have to maintain the elegance of the design, I'm no Sokolov but I do still have an eye for aesthetics."

Emily nodded mutely, and Havelock sighed beside her. "You'll forgive Pierro, Miss Kaldwin, he gets like this sometimes. But we're lucky to have him, if it weren't for his inventions, then we'd have been surprised by five patrols by now."

"I don't mind." She said, as Pierro vanished into his workshop and Havelock beckoned her to the main building. In truth, she found the man's quirkiness kind of funny. The pair she saw inside the bar… Not so much.

._.

"I hardly like them, but they are my brothers dammit!"

"Brothers or no, we aren't exactly going to let them liv- Ah, Admiral! And… Well then."

Emily walked into the bar and was met by the sight of two men, one thin but tall and holding a flask, the other decked out in Overseer garb. "Miss Kaldwin, allow me to introduce my other friends." Havelock gestured to the rooms occupants. "This is the younger Pendleton brother, Treavor." The man offered a stiff bow, before reaching for a stiff drink. "And this is Overseer Martin."

That man walked forwards for a handshake with Emily. "You must be Emily Kaldwin." He said. "My condolences about your mother, but my thanks for dealing with that high Overseer. I don't know how you managed to brand him an outcast, but he had it in for me for ages. I hope you didn't use magic on him? Because you know I'd have to kill you."

Emily let out a worried smile, making Martin laugh and clap her on her shoulder before wandering over to the bar.

"I'm afraid that all this 'magic' business is causing us serious problems." Havelock cut in. "The lord regent has a lot of the men in power under his control, including the (probably late) high Overseer. It was Campbell spreading the message that you were a witch, and as long as that is popular opinion, there is no reason announcing your safety to the public. I imagine that Hiram Burrows will try and get another puppet voted into the position, and continue the propaganda while he tries to find you."

Emily frowned. "How do we stop that?"

"From the bar, Martin sent her a cheery wave. "With me!"

"Overseer Martin is quite high up in the Abbey of the Everyman." Havelock explained. "And as you can see, he is quite the charmer."

Emily's eyes widened in understanding. "You think you can get him to be high Overseer? Then he can say I'm not a witch!"

"Not quite." Havelock sighed. "The high Overseer is voted in by the parliament, which consists of prominent families such as the Boyles, The Burrows', many others, and the Pendletons. All three of the Pendletons. Now if…something were to happen to the older two, then Treavor here would assume their votes in parliament and it would be a trifle to get Martin promoted."

Emily looked at him curiously. "Would you have to disgrace them? Like I did to Campbell?"

The room seemed to come to an awkward stop. "…Of course. That." Havelock said eventually, breaking the silence. "But suitable…disgracers have been hard to find, and the vote is tomorrow night." As the room started up again, Havelock looked at Emily, deep in thought, and seemed to decide that the conversation was over. "There's nothing you can do about it, so forget about it, okay? I'll get one of the maids to show you your new room."

._.

"Ooh!" Emily looked at the room in wonder. It wasn't as big as her old one, of course, but it was at the top of the tower this time, and she had to go over a rooftop bridge to get there! Exploring this place was going to be fun. The maid who had taken her there smiled. "It's facilities are limited, the only bath's back in the main complex, but it's the most secure room here, and the best decorated." She lowered her voice. "I think the Admiral's jealous."

Emily giggled. "Thank you very much, uh, Callista, was it?"

Callista nodded. "Yes. If you ever need anything, let me know, and honestly, I should be the one thanking you."

"Really? Why?"

Callista blushed. "Well, Martin wasn't the only one Campbell had a problem with. My uncle, Geoff Curnow, was honestly worried for his life. He'd been in a bunch of 'accidents', and, well…He's the only family I have left." She sniffed a little and wiped her face with her sleeve.

Cautiously, Emily said. "You don't need to thank me for saving your uncle. It's an empress's job to help her people, right?"

Callista looked up, eyes glistening slightly, and seemed to be about to say something, but instead just shook her head slightly, curtsied, and left with a "My lady."

Turning back to her room, Emily barely caught what sounded like "bless your soul, little Kaldwin." Before going to her window and looking out over the river beyond.

Alright listen, I'm away from wifi for a week, meaning i can write, but not upload. This shouldn't affect much, 'cept you get this early and the next late. Anyway, See y'all!